RU2258321C2 - Method for wireless transfer of speech signals through internet network with pressing of button for entering transfer mode - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: wireless communication systems.

SUBSTANCE: wireless phone converts speech of subscriber to digital form in response to pressing of "press and speak" button, physical or virtual, which is sent in data transfer mode to base station. Base station positions data via internet network, intranet or extranet on server. Other wireless phones reproduce data received from server through same or different base station via internet network, intranet or extranet and convert data back to digital speech signal. Base stations transfer digitalized speech signal to other wireless phones, which convert them to speech signal in response to recognition of speech frames in data transfer channel using software of speech codec administrator. Network computers can be configured for emulation of combined base station and wireless phone.

EFFECT: server can dynamically mark any wireless phone or emulation of surface communication line as transmitter and can dynamically configure any set of phones/emulations as receivers of transmitted signals.

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Description

Technical field

The invention relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to the transmission of voice signals to and from a cordless telephone via the Internet, intranet or extranet.

State of the art

The traditional communication system, which has the ability to work in the "press and talk" mode, when the system goes into transmit mode when you press the button, has several transceivers tuned to the same channel, namely the same frequency. Any user who wants to talk, presses a button on his microphone, which puts the transceiver in transmit mode. Releasing the button puts the transceiver into receive mode. Any number of users can share the same frequency, provided that there is some way to determine which user is allowed to transmit next.

Trunk radio communication is the next step in the development of this technology. Instead of sharing a common physical channel, users share a common logical channel. A user who wishes to start a conversation transmits a request signal for such a transmission start. The controller receives this signal. The controller sends back a signal that assigns a physical channel - a signal that any other user can also receive. All users are then reconfigured to the assigned frequency, and the conversation continues as before. Whenever there is a pause in a conversation, the controller can transmit the purpose of the new physical channel. Such a reassignment may be due to various traffic patterns, signal quality, and the like.

The "backbone" radio connection got its name from the telephone trunk lines between remote cities. A subscriber in one city can regularly send a call every day to another subscriber in another city. At the same time, he transfers the call through a local subscriber loop to the station of his local telephone company, which places the call on the trunk leading to the telephone company station in another city, which transfers the call to the local subscriber loop of the second subscriber. It should not be expected that the same intercity highway will stand out every day. In practice, the telephone company can change the trunk during the call (possibly during a pause), without changing any of the local subscriber loops.

The backbone radio communication works with the same success (or failure) when calling a conference call (involving more than two subscribers), as in the case of a regular call (involving two subscribers). A controller may not just assign a physical channel. He may also decide which user is allowed to transfer as follows. He can notify a pre-selected group of users that they are being transferred. However, it cannot dynamically change the composition of the group or establish the geographical area of the group, which is determined by the presence of the Internet, intranet or extranet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The applicant has overcome this limitation by combining the wireless telephone service with the Internet or with an intranet or extranet. A cordless telephone converts a caller’s speech signal to digital form in response to a press of a push-and-talk button, physical or virtual. It sends a digitized speech signal in data mode to the base station. The base station hosts this data over the Internet, or an intranet or extranet, on the server. Other cordless phones recover data from a server via the Internet or an intranet or extranet and convert the data back to a digital speech signal. Networked computers can also be configured to emulate a combined base station and cordless telephone. The server can dynamically indicate any cordless telephone (or landline emulation) as a transmitter and can dynamically configure any number of telephones / emulations as transmit receivers.

Brief Description of the Drawings

figure 1 is a block diagram of a cordless telephone (100) in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an Internet, intranet, or extranet server (200) in accordance with the present invention; FIG.

figure 3 is a block diagram of a system (300) in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method (400) for operating the wireless telephone of FIG. 1;

5 is a flowchart of a method (500) for operating an Internet server, intranet, or extranet of FIG. 2;

6 is a flowchart of a method (600) for operating the system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method (700) for configuring the system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method (800) for storing and transmitting using the system of FIG. 3.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

1 is a block diagram of a cordless telephone (100) in accordance with the present invention. The cordless telephone contains a speaker (102), a microphone (104), a microbrowser or client firmware (106) having an Internet address, an intranet or an extranet, voice encoding and decoding administrator software (108) for a microbrowser or client firmware and a real or virtual push and talk button (NIG) (110). It also contains means (112) for sending an outgoing message of streaming speech data (SPD) from the microphone by means of the speech codec administrator software and indicating, in response to pressing the NIG button, that the NIG button is pressed. It also comprises means (114) for transmitting an incoming message of streaming speech data via the speech codec administrator software to the loudspeaker in response to releasing the NIG button.

2 is a block diagram of an Internet, intranet, or extranet server (200) in accordance with the present invention. An Internet, intranet or extranet server (200) includes means for storing (202) a plurality of Internet, intranet or extranet addresses. This storage facility can accept additions and deletions of addresses both during a call and in the absence of a call. Thus, it provides the ability to dynamically group wireless phones in conference mode. Networked computers (314; see FIG. 3) may replace some cordless phones.

The server (200) also comprises means for receiving (204) an indication that the NIG button is pressed in the cordless telephone at each Internet address, intranet or extranet. It also contains means for determining (206) whether more than one cordless telephone has an indication of a pressed NIG button, and means responsive to more than one cordless telephone having an indication of a pressed NIG button to decide (208) which cordless telephone is allowed post a streaming speech data message to the server. When a decision-enabled cordless telephone (or a single cordless telephone, if only one has a pressed NIG button) is selected, the server includes means for placing (210) a streaming speech data message on the server from a decision-enabled cordless telephone or from a single cordless phone. It also contains means for transmitting (212) the posted data to cordless telephones at other Internet, intranet, or extranet addresses. 2, these components are shown as being connected by a bus (214) connected to an interface (218), but any suitable architecture can be used.

3 is a block diagram of a system (300) in accordance with the present invention. The system comprises a first cordless telephone (302), a second cordless telephone (304 or 306), a first base station (308), a second base station (310), and an Internet, intranet or extranet server (312). Each cordless telephone is as described with reference to FIG. 1. The first cordless telephone wirelessly communicates with the first base station, and the first base station communicates via the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet with an Internet server, intranet, or extranet. A direct connection is shown for simplicity. In practice, several routing devices (and possibly other devices) would be included in the connection. The second cordless telephone wirelessly communicates with the second base station, and the second base station also communicates via the Internet, an intranet or an extranet with an Internet, intranet or extranet server. An Internet, intranet or extranet server is as described with reference to FIG. 2. The first base station may be the same as the second base station (the second cordless telephone is telephone # 2 (304)), or different from the second base station (the second cordless telephone is telephone # 3 (306)).

An Internet, intranet or extranet server can be configured to add or remove an Internet address, intranet, or extranet of a cordless telephone upon request from this cordless telephone, from a device other than this cordless telephone, or both. An Internet, intranet or extranet server can be configured upon request from a cordless telephone to store one or more streaming voice data messages and forwarded to a cordless telephone at the next request. The system may also comprise at least one additional device, which is not a cordless telephone, but which is configured and connected to an Internet, intranet or extranet server so as to emulate a cordless telephone. This device is preferably a computer (314) with a microphone and a speaker into which the corresponding software is loaded. In this case, the storage and forwarding mechanism may be as simple as displaying an icon or video image of a subscriber on a screen representing a user of a particular telephone or computer. Clicking on this icon forwards all messages from this remote user or allows you to select specific messages. Using this tool allows the user to select specific remote users that are considered especially important and filter out less important remote users.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method (400) for operating the cordless telephone of FIG. 1. The method includes pressing (402) the NIG button and sending (404) an outgoing message of streaming speech data from the microphone using the speech codec administrator software (and indicating that the NIG button is pressed) in response to pressing the NIG button. The method also includes releasing (406) the NIG button and sending (408) the incoming streaming speech data message via the speech codec administrator software to the loudspeaker in response to releasing the NIG button.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method (500) for operating an Internet server, intranet, or extranet of FIG. 2. The method includes storing (502) a plurality of Internet, intranet or extranet addresses, receiving (504) an indication that the NIG button is pressed in a cordless telephone for each Internet, intranet or extranet address, and determining (506) whether more than one wireless phone indication of the pressed nig button. If more than one cordless telephone has an indication of the pressed NIG button, the method further includes making a decision (508) about which cordless telephone is allowed to host the voice-to-speech voice data message on the server, and placing (510) the voice-to-speech voice message on the server from the result of deciding a cordless phone. If only one telephone had a NIG button pressed, then the method involves placing a message from this single cordless telephone. The method finally includes forwarding (512) the posted streaming voice data message to the cordless phones to other Internet, intranet, or extranet addresses.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method (600) for operating the system of FIG. 3. The NIG button is pressed (602) on the first cordless telephone. The first cordless telephone sends (604) an outgoing message of streaming speech data from the microphone using the speech codec administrator software (and indicating that the NIG button is pressed) in response to pressing the NIG button to the first base station. The first base station sends (606) an indication to the Internet server, intranet or extranet that the NIG button is pressed in the first cordless telephone. An Internet, intranet, or extranet server makes a decision (608), if more than one cordless telephone has an indication of the pressed NIG button, which cordless telephone is allowed to place the streaming speech data message on the server. The message of the streaming voice data is placed (610) on the server from the cordless telephone authorized as a result of the decision or from a single cordless telephone. The server sends (612) the posted voice streaming data message to the second wireless telephone through the second base station. The second cordless telephone sends the posted message of the streaming speech data via the speech codec administrator software in response to releasing the NIG button (614) to the loudspeaker. The server sends (616) the posted voice streaming data message to the cordless telephones to other Internet, intranet, or extranet addresses, if any.

As noted above, the first base station may be the same as the second base station, or different from the second base station.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method (700) for configuring the system of FIG. 3. An Internet, intranet or extranet server can be configured to add (702) or delete (704) the Internet address, intranet, or extranet of a cordless telephone upon request (706 or 708) from this cordless telephone, from a device other than the cordless telephone, or from both.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a storage and transmission method (800) using the system of FIG. 3. The method may include storing (804) upon request (802) from the cordless telephone one or more streaming voice data messages and transmitting (806) them to the cordless telephone at the following request (808).

Industrial applicability

The invention can be used in industry and can be implemented and used when it is required to transfer to a wireless telephone or from a wireless telephone via the Internet, an intranet or an extranet. The individual components of the device and method presented in the present description, taken separately can be completely traditional, however it is their combination that the applicant claims as an invention.

Although various variants of the device and method are described, the essence and scope of the invention are not limited to them, but are determined only by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims (18)

1. Internet server, intranet or extranet, moreover (a) an Internet, intranet or extranet server comprises means for storing a plurality of Internet, intranet or extranet addresses, (b) wherein the server is characterized in that it contains: (1) means for receiving an indication that a push-and-talk mode button (NIG button) is pressed in a cordless telephone at each address, (2) means for determining whether more than one cordless telephone has an indication of a pressed NIG button, (3) means responsive to more than one cordless telephone having an indication of a pressed NIG button to decide which cordless telephone is allowed to host a streaming speech data message on a server, (4) means for placing a streaming speech data message on a server from a wireless telephone permitted as a result of a decision or from a single wireless telephone, (5) means for transmitting the posted data to cordless phones at other addresses and (6) means for dynamically grouping cordless telephones and network computers in conference mode. 2. The system of the Internet, intranet or extranet, and (a) said system comprises a first cordless telephone, a second cordless telephone or network computer, a first base station, a second base station and an Internet, intranet or extranet server, (b) each cordless telephone contains: (1) loudspeaker and (2) microphone (c) a first cordless telephone wirelessly communicates with a first base station, (d) the first base station communicates via the Internet, intranet or extranet with the server, (e) a second cordless telephone wirelessly communicates with a second base station, (f) a second base station or network computer communicates via the Internet, an intranet or an extranet with a server, (g) the server comprises means for storing multiple Internet addresses, intranets or extranets, (h) each cordless telephone is characterized in that it comprises: (1) a microbrowser or client firmware having Internet, intranet or extranet addresses, (2) speech codec administrator software for a microbrowser or client firmware, (3) real or virtual NIG button, (4) means for transmitting: (A) an outgoing message of streaming speech data from a microphone by means of a speech codec administrator software, and (B) an indication that the NIG button is pressed in response to pressing the NIG button and (5) means for transmitting an incoming message of streaming speech data via the speech codec administrator software to the microphone in response to releasing the NIG button, (i) the server is characterized in that it contains: (1) means for receiving an indication that the NIG button is pressed in a cordless telephone at each address, (2) means for determining whether more than one cordless telephone has an indication of a pressed NIG button, (3) means responsive to more than one cordless telephone having an indication of a pressed NIG button to decide which cordless telephone is allowed to host a streaming speech data message on a server, (4) means for placing a streaming speech data message on a server from a wireless telephone permitted as a result of a decision or from a single wireless telephone, (5) means for transmitting the posted data to cordless phones at other addresses and (6) means for dynamically grouping cordless telephones and network computers in conference mode. 3. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the first base station is the same as the second base station. 4. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the first base station is different from the second base station. 5. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the server is configured to add or remove the address of the cordless telephone upon request from this cordless telephone. 6. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the server is configured to add or remove the address of the cordless telephone upon request from a device other than this cordless telephone. 7. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the server is configured to store, upon request from a cordless telephone, one or more streaming voice data messages and to transmit them to a cordless telephone at the next request. 8. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the system further comprises at least one additional device that is not a cordless telephone, but which is configured and connected to a server so as to emulate a cordless telephone. 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the server is configured to add or remove the address of a cordless telephone or first device upon request from the second device. 10. The method of operation of the Internet server, intranet or extranet, moreover (a) the method includes storing multiple Internet addresses, intranets or extranets; and (b) the method is characterized in that it further includes: (1) receiving indications that the NIG button is pressed in the cordless telephone at each address, (2) determining whether more than one cordless telephone has an indication of a pressed NIG button, (3) if more than one cordless telephone has an indication of the pressed NIG button, then deciding which cordless telephone is allowed to host the streaming speech data message on the server, (4) placing a streaming speech data message on a server from a cordless telephone authorized as a result of a decision, or from a single cordless telephone, (5) transmitting the posted streaming speech data message to the cordless telephones at other addresses and (6) dynamic grouping of cordless telephones and network computers in conference mode. 11. The method of operation of the Internet system, intranet or extranet, and (a) the system comprises a first cordless telephone, a second cordless telephone or network computer, a first base station, a second base station and an Internet server, an intranet or an extranet, (b) each cordless telephone contains: (1) loudspeaker and (2) microphone (c) a first cordless telephone wirelessly communicates with a first base station, (d) the first base station communicates via the Internet, intranet or extranet with the server, (e) a second cordless telephone wirelessly communicates with a second base station, (f) the second base station communicates via the Internet, intranet or extranet with the server; (g) the server comprises means for storing a plurality of Internet, intranet or extranet addresses; (h) each cordless telephone is characterized in that it comprises: (1) a microbrowser or client firmware having Internet, intranet or extranet addresses, (2) voice codec administrator software for a microbrowser or client firmware, and (3) real or virtual NIG button, (i) wherein the method is characterized in that it comprises: (1) pressing the NIG button on the first cordless telephone, (2) first wireless phone transmission: (A) an outgoing message of streaming speech data from a microphone by means of a speech codec administrator software, and (B) indications that the NIG button is pressed in response to pressing the NIG button in the first base station, (3) transmitting by the first base station an indication to the server that the NIG button is pressed in the first cordless telephone, (4) making a decision by the server, if more than one cordless telephone has an indication of the pressed NIG button, which cordless telephone is allowed to host the streaming speech data message on the server, (5) placing a streaming speech data message on a server from a cordless telephone authorized as a result of a decision, or from a single cordless telephone, (6) the server transmitting the posted voice data message to a second wireless telephone through a second base station, (7) transmitting by the second cordless telephone the posted message of streaming speech data via the speech codec administrator software to the loudspeaker in response to releasing the NIG button and (8) the server transmitting the posted message of the streaming voice data to the cordless telephones at other addresses, if any. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the first base station is the same as the second base station. 13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the first base station is different from the second base station. 14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it further includes adding or removing the address of the cordless telephone upon request from this cordless telephone. 15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it further includes adding or removing the address of the cordless telephone upon request from a device other than the cordless telephone. 16. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it further includes the server storing, upon request from the cordless telephone, one or more streaming speech data messages and forwarding them to the cordless telephone at the following request. 17. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the system further comprises at least one additional device that is not a cordless telephone, but which is configured and connected to a server with the ability to emulate a cordless telephone. 18. The method according to 17, characterized in that the server is configured to add or remove the address of the cordless phone or the first device upon request from the second device, and the method includes indicating in the second device by clicking on the video image of the subscriber representing the cordless phone or the first device.

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